Insanity is the default state of humanity. Ever since I can remember, people have been declaring that their present is Heinlein’s “crazy years.” It’s getting worse, though. People are openly applauding the thug who gunned down Brian Thompson in the street. A lot of them are undoubtedly the same ones who applauded the massacre of innocent Israelis in 2023. The current president of the US abused his power to pardon his son, and the next one has declared his intent to pardon rioters who invaded the Capitol in support of his lies. The latter wants to tax imports and kick out immigrant workers who contribute to domestic production, and people cheer the policies that will inevitably make everything more expensive.

It’s easy to give in to despair. You can give up on the world and just try to enjoy the show as it collapses. But it’s too easy and accomplishes nothing. Besides, there are two reasons not to call it quits.

First, sanity is stronger than insanity, even when the sane people are greatly outnumbered. People keep making progress in spite of it all. We’re better off than we were a hundred years ago, and even people below the poverty line have luxuries which no medieval king had. This has happened because there are enough people who think. Mindlessness is chaos and defeats itself, while reason keeps building on itself.

Second, and closely related, things have been worse. In the 1910s, people got long prison sentences for criticizing US participation in World War I. In the 1940s, American citizens of Japanese ancestry were sent to concentration camps. In the 1960s, more than a dozen states had laws against interracial marriage. In the early seventies, making contraceptives available to unmarried people was a crime in Massachusetts, and Americans were being forced to serve in the US military. More recently, improvement has slowed down or even reversed (the Patriot Act), but in the long run reason has made gains over unreason.

What can a writer do? By “writer” here I mean anyone who puts down words for public consumption. I mean scholars, bloggers, songwriters, poets, essayists, social media regulars, and more. You aren’t going to change the world, but you can encourage a little more sanity. You never know how much of an effect you’ll have. Sometimes helping just one person to see things better makes a huge difference. Accomplishing this requires a different approach from the ones who are pushing insanity.

The most popular way of making a case on the Internet is with ridicule, insults, and made-up accusations. Think about how many times you’ve been persuaded that way. When was the last time you said, “Oh, now that you’ve responded to my views with ‘LOL’ and called me an idiot and a Nazi, I see your point”? What you can do that way is get some people to shut up, but they’ll stick to their position more strongly than before. They’ll listen to people who agree with them and don’t mock them, and they’ll stop listening to people with different views. They’ll cheer people who not only share their views but say loudly what a jerk you are. That approach solidifies the opposition and strengthens the ones with the most outrageous views.

If you make a reasoned case, there’s a better chance people will think it’s a reasonable case. You aren’t likely to convince anyone on the spot when the issue is complicated, but you can give them a new way of thinking about it. They may come around in time, or they might eventually agree with you just in part.

Another advantage of making reasoned arguments is that it forces you to clarify your own thinking. I’ve discarded several blog drafts because, in the progress of writing, I realized that I wasn’t as clear on the subject as I’d thought. Don’t assume you must be right on everything.

Now there’s certainly a place for ridicule. If a proposal or practice will lead to disaster, an argument is absurd, or a public figure deserves contempt, mockery is an effective tool, but only if it’s grounded in a reasoned position. If you have to misrepresent something in order to ridicule it, you’re selling counterfeit goods. If you ridicule their looks, accent, or name, you’re selling trash. In all events, you want your audience to laugh with you, not feel you’re laughing at them. If you really find it necessary to denounce your audience (I have a few times), at least try to make them understand why.

There’s definitely a time to denounce. When people say murder is good (or “Murder is bad, BUT…”), don’t spare the vitriol. But again, the important thing is to focus on what you’re denouncing. If you make unwarranted generalizations about people, you give the impression you don’t care about justice.

Be forceful and eloquent, but keep the high ground. Spread a little sanity. It’s in short supply.